The lead was a very substantial one for Shakthi! Could this be the end to the case? He was beginning to think in terms of returning the girl back to the guy than thinking it as a case he had to close. However he wanted the ‘muscle’ man too. He ordered his men to search for a place as the one described in the message Shiva got from Shweta; supposedly. And he wanted them to call him as soon as they found it.
In the meanwhile, he called up the service provider from where the message was sent to Shiva and requested them to tap into all the calls from that particular mobile number as it was involved in a case. They informed him that his request could not be carried out over the phone and that he had to produce them a warrant to arrest the man who owned that number. Also Shakthi had to go there in person. Even if he could give that to them now, their office would open only the next morning and it would take at least six hours to be process a high priority request of this kind.
He decided to do it the next morning. He could not produce them the warrant. He didn’t know who that man was. But he was confident he could convince the service provider.
As he finished thinking and re-thinking what should be done if the hide-out was found, he got a call from his deputy. They had located a half constructed structure with a pile foundation machines nearby. He was thrilled to hear this. He asked them to surround the area and didn’t want them to make a move till he came by.
He reached there in less than twenty minutes. The entire area was deserted. There were no signs of the workers involved in the construction. The thug had chosen the place carefully. There were lights in just one of the floors; the fifth floor. Shakthi had only a few men. Few men whom he trusted and who were qualified for stealth attack. They drew a plan and would enter the place according to it. They studied the first floor layout and assumed the fifth floor also would have the same layout.
They reached the fifth floor. Shakthi and two other men entered through the front. His two other men entered through the rear. Two other men provided them cover in case of an attempted escape like a rabbit trying to escape a smoked hole. But they found nothing in the room from where the light was! It was empty except for stack of charred wood, a few whiskey bottle caps and cigarette butts. They collected all that. The wood was still slightly warm. He had missed the thug by a whisker. Shakthi saw a cigarette pack lying on the floor. He stuffed it into his pocket.
Shakthi was furious. Furious at him! If only he had got there earlier… But he could not afford to lose his temper. It would disturb his concentration. He returned home very disturbed. When he changed his dress the cigarette pack that he stuffed in his pocket fell out. He had forgotten about it. He would have put it along with the crime scene evidences had he remembered. He sat in his table and looked at it. It was a pack that contained Wills Scissors cigarettes. He wondered how long it had been since he smoked. He had done it in his college days when his friends forced him to.
He flipped the pack. There was nothing in it. He prepared to write his diary and switched on his table lamp. As he wrote, he looked at the pack again. There were some deep inscription marks on it. Something had been scratched on it. But he was not able to make out what it was.
He took a piece of paper and placed it on top of the pack. He scratched the paper slightly with a pencil, letting the impression to get printed on the paper. When he looked closer, he saw a rough figure of two birds. And under that were three capitalized letters. Two were spaced closely and the last one was wide. “SR P”.
In the meanwhile, he called up the service provider from where the message was sent to Shiva and requested them to tap into all the calls from that particular mobile number as it was involved in a case. They informed him that his request could not be carried out over the phone and that he had to produce them a warrant to arrest the man who owned that number. Also Shakthi had to go there in person. Even if he could give that to them now, their office would open only the next morning and it would take at least six hours to be process a high priority request of this kind.
He decided to do it the next morning. He could not produce them the warrant. He didn’t know who that man was. But he was confident he could convince the service provider.
As he finished thinking and re-thinking what should be done if the hide-out was found, he got a call from his deputy. They had located a half constructed structure with a pile foundation machines nearby. He was thrilled to hear this. He asked them to surround the area and didn’t want them to make a move till he came by.
He reached there in less than twenty minutes. The entire area was deserted. There were no signs of the workers involved in the construction. The thug had chosen the place carefully. There were lights in just one of the floors; the fifth floor. Shakthi had only a few men. Few men whom he trusted and who were qualified for stealth attack. They drew a plan and would enter the place according to it. They studied the first floor layout and assumed the fifth floor also would have the same layout.
They reached the fifth floor. Shakthi and two other men entered through the front. His two other men entered through the rear. Two other men provided them cover in case of an attempted escape like a rabbit trying to escape a smoked hole. But they found nothing in the room from where the light was! It was empty except for stack of charred wood, a few whiskey bottle caps and cigarette butts. They collected all that. The wood was still slightly warm. He had missed the thug by a whisker. Shakthi saw a cigarette pack lying on the floor. He stuffed it into his pocket.
Shakthi was furious. Furious at him! If only he had got there earlier… But he could not afford to lose his temper. It would disturb his concentration. He returned home very disturbed. When he changed his dress the cigarette pack that he stuffed in his pocket fell out. He had forgotten about it. He would have put it along with the crime scene evidences had he remembered. He sat in his table and looked at it. It was a pack that contained Wills Scissors cigarettes. He wondered how long it had been since he smoked. He had done it in his college days when his friends forced him to.
He flipped the pack. There was nothing in it. He prepared to write his diary and switched on his table lamp. As he wrote, he looked at the pack again. There were some deep inscription marks on it. Something had been scratched on it. But he was not able to make out what it was.
He took a piece of paper and placed it on top of the pack. He scratched the paper slightly with a pencil, letting the impression to get printed on the paper. When he looked closer, he saw a rough figure of two birds. And under that were three capitalized letters. Two were spaced closely and the last one was wide. “SR P”.
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